


Achilles and the Minotaur in the Golden Limbo

by nonky



Category: Nancy Drew (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:33:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29392716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonky/pseuds/nonky
Summary: The worst of the mess was inside her mind, tugging her concentration away from the lethal fury of Odette’s ghost. Every atonement just made the spirit vicious, and Nancy didn’t want to be the same. She had felt a little peace burying Lucy in the woods. It was a clear and lovely memory to grasp when her head was spinning. She didn’t want to have one more fight with her father - or fathers - before she had to face her death.Mild spoilers up to 2x04, The Fate of the Buried Treasure.
Relationships: Carson Drew & Nancy Drew, Nancy Drew & Ryan Hudson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26
Collections: Nancy Drew TV Series (2019)





	Achilles and the Minotaur in the Golden Limbo

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone freshly viewing the whole show since the season two start, I wrote multiple stories during season one. Not all still fit with canon. My titles reflect a naming convention using mythological references for characters.
> 
> During the events of season one, Nancy with Nick was referred to as his Desdemona. About mid season, when she seemed to be getting very quick connections linking Carson Drew to Lucy Sable, I called her Medea. Spanning her two love interests, the use of gold or golden refers to Nancy as a treasure difficult to obtain (golden fleece), which made Nick Jason of the Argonauts and Owen Marvin Tantalus. Achilles has always referred to Carson Drew and his weakness for his daughter. Ryan Hudson is the Minotaur, perhaps a monster or a tortured soul trapped.

Work was its own kind of inevitable death curse, and bosses the vengeful creatures to be appeased.

George stood at the top of the stairs to the kitchen, ready to yell a final warning before Nancy was late. She hadn’t worked a shift since Owen died, and waiting tables might spend the time before they baited the Aglaeca. At least they were all gathered at work if the omens started escalating.

“I’m almost ready,” Nancy called. “I’ll be right there.”

“Um, you should probably know - your two dads are here. At a booth, drinking black coffees and looking stressed out.”

It wasn’t a joke because George didn’t really joke about anything truly hurtful. The meeting had to be about her, and Nancy scowled. She wanted a relaxing shift before she had to trap a vengeful spirit. A sudden wealth of parental supervision wasn’t helpful. 

“They’re looking for me,” she muttered. 

“I mean, it could just be a really bad date,” George said sympathetically.

Nancy stomped up the stairs, tying her apron. “Better they screw each other than keep doing it to me, I guess.”

She continued through the kitchen, grabbing a tray. Everyone else working scattered from the combined power walk of George and Nancy facing down the dining room’s horrors.

“Let’s try not to talk like that in front of customers, please! Use my office.”

George at least tried to make it seem like she was working. Nancy just went directly to the table containing her two versions of father and glared at them. She held up the tray to hide her face as she spoke. 

“This looks really weird and suspicious, and anyone trying to help me wouldn’t be drawing attention to me with surprise brunches,” she whispered. “I’m going to walk away, and you are going to meet me in George’s office a few minutes apart.”

Carson arrived first, casting his eyes around warily. He gave her a wan smile and Nancy waved him to a chair. He sat down with his usual quiet supplication, letting her be angry. That patient response to her childish outburst had always been aggravating. She didn’t want to be sniping and insulting him if she was about to die. But the attention of one father was too much and getting a bonus trainee dad was too much.

Ryan ducked into the office shortly, his body language so guilty he might as well have announced he had a fascinating secret. Nancy took a deep breath and tried to keep her tone civil. 

“You both have to recognize this looks strange. You might have some legal purpose in meeting, but Hudsons aren’t known for appreciating The Claw’s app platter. I don’t fit into any kind of cover story,” she said, pacing. 

The man who raised her could read her short temper and visibly shut his mouth on what he wanted to say. Her ponytail was uncomfortable and she pulled her hair tie out.

“We’re worried about you,” Ryan said, putting his hand out in an awkward gesture of openness.

Her hair flew back as she turned to face them, fiery in a bad way. Her expression was set in pain for a moment before she composed herself.

“Am I part of the Hudson Family Trust now,” Nancy asked sharply, looking at Carson. “I hope you’re billing for the hours. They can afford it.”

Both men slumped a little, but Carson seemed to be speechless. Ryan gave him a chance to respond and crossed his arms over his chest with a little shake of his head. If fatherhood was just taking constant abuse quietly, he wasn’t good at it.

“That’s not fair and you know better. He raised you, so you know he cares. No one knows how to help you without some cooperation. Carson knows the law, I have money. If you need to get out of town there’s a vacation house you can use,” he told her. “Your friends can go, too.”

Ryan was negotiating with her for some kind of joint father dynamic. Nancy knew better than to accept a deal from a Hudson without questions. 

“I appreciate the offer. I understand you have both helped me recently. I am grateful, but it’s not about me specifically. My friends and I have something very delicate to try. You can’t keep dropping in on my life,” she said.

Carson Drew had a very old habit of leaning down to speak to her, a leftover from hunching over her crib and highchair. He leaned down and folded his hands together though he had to look up at her. 

“I never dropped out of your life because it was something I wanted. I’m lonely and worried sick. We’ve all lost important people. If you could just confide in one of us,” Carson told her. “I can go away and you can tell Ryan. He won’t report back to me. You’re a bunch of teenagers and you’re all acting like it’s the end of the world. We’re desperate to help, Nancy.”

It was so tempting sometimes to regress to her younger self, the eighteen year old she’d believed herself to be before her birthday and parentage was a mystery she was sorry to have solved. Nancy shut her eyes and fought with the urge to blurt all the crazy ghost stories inhabiting her real life. 

Ryan had seen Lucy but not much else. Carson had been there for the ceremony to find Ace’s soul after his accident, and her showdown in the warehouse. She wasn’t sure either of them was capable of understanding the problem without dragging them into the danger as well. Carson’s endless patience to listen for anything she wanted to say made her crave the easy comfort of her first father.

However, her new father had the impulse control of a hyperactive puppy. He stuck his hands in his pockets and shuffled around.

“I, uh, I’m really sorry about Owen,” Ryan said stiltedly. “I know I made a bad joke about how if he died my business might benefit from less competition. It was crass. I know you were seeing him. I don’t know how serious it was, but you must be grieving. He was a good guy. We were just always sort of up against one another.”

She had no strength to begin feeling the loss of Owen. Nancy held up both hands and nearly covered her ears. She had to work not to shout. 

“In the last year, I lost the mother I knew and a mother I didn’t. And I gained an existential crisis, because my whole life is based on a lie I have to maintain or I’m in danger. I have to wonder when I make a decision am I being pragmatic and unsentimental, or am I tapping into the Hudson family’s ability to screw anyone over for my own good?”

Ryan had the nerve to look hurt. She wanted to cry because he just didn’t get her at all. It wasn’t about the words. He had meant it, and a shallow wish of ill will in a town like Horseshoe Bay could easily become a wish something wanted to grant.

“Hey, that’s not all we are. I want to know you for yourself. I didn’t get a chance for your childhood, but I can learn who you are now. You can know me. I’m not saying it makes up for anything, but I didn’t abandon you. I didn’t know.”

The only person more oblivious than her was Ryan, and he had lost Lucy and a child. His marriage to Tiffany was shaky but he had to suffer her death. She tried to use the way her mother had taught her empathy for anyone. Life was hard. Pain was universal, and human experience couldn’t be measured ranking people as plainly good or bad.

Nancy pointed at him frantically, because she needed silence. “Okay, but that’s not you helping me.”

She sat behind George’s desk, clasping her hands on the stacks of papers that was the filing system.

“You didn’t know. You really weren’t aware of my existence. I can’t blame you for that. But that leaves me with a father who was so literally absent I didn’t know you existed either, and a father who misled me so thoroughly I have to suspect I was never meant to know the truth about myself. I don’t have any comfort from the answers I’ve gotten. Lucy has justice, and she has a real place to rest. I even solved Tiffany’s murder, though I guess she was technically my stepmother and my uncle did kill her so . . . “

Carson made a face and visibly held back from trying to hug her. “Nancy, you can’t just string it all together like that and wear it like a chain. It will destroy you. You didn’t do anything wrong. It took a lot of people to create this, most of them acting before you were old enough to say your first words. Let us fix what we can, please?”

The worst of the mess was inside her mind, tugging her concentration away from the lethal fury of Odette’s ghost. Every atonement just made the spirit vicious, and Nancy didn’t want to be the same. She had felt a little peace burying Lucy in the woods. It was a clear and lovely memory to grasp when her head was spinning. She didn’t want to have one more fight with her father - or fathers - before she had to face her death.

“Owen died because I couldn’t stop until I had answers. I bargained for those answers by taking risks that included my friends, and now I have to pay for them. A cheque won’t cover it. This town has things that aren’t alive, but they aren’t entirely dead. I owe one of them. It doesn’t want to talk to my lawyer or my father. The police can’t stop it. We have a ritual that should work.”

Ryan brightened. “So I can help you again, like the other ritual.”

“No, it’s different ingredients, and just the people from the original ritual,” Nancy said firmly. “Please don’t show up. We need it to go right.”

Carson stood up slowly, his body language constrained. He knew she was serious. He seemed prepared to give her space again now that he knew he couldn’t do anything for her present situation. She was relieved. If he pushed he could break her down, and she didn’t have time to lose focus.

Ryan seemed to catch up to the vibe between father and daughter, sighing as he gave in. 

“I won’t show up,” he said, shrugging. “Is it possible to get a text or something to let us know how it went?”

If it went really badly, they would know from the sirens. Everyone was leaving a message of some sort for their loved ones. None of them wanted to be missing for their families. Nancy might have such good news she was happy to share it with Ryan despite her reserve. She might be able to go to Carson and hug him tight and begin to forgive him. She should have thought to visit Patrice Dodd. She would have liked to thank Hannah and check up on her.

Defeating the Aglaeca felt like the key to everything else for her. Maybe they needed to know she might die, but it wasn’t only her life in danger. This was a secret to keep, at least until it wouldn’t screw up her last move. 

“After I do what I need to, I will text you both,” she said calmly. “I am still a broke teenager working in a failing restaurant. I don’t exactly have the ability to disappear. My friends need my head on straight to work this out. After I can start trying to untangle how I feel about all the rest.”

It was very lawyerly phrasing, a dodge Carson recognized. She knew he wasn’t fooled, but he simply didn’t believe in ghosts enough to worry a ritual might physically hurt her. Ryan was more resigned, looking down like he had hoped for more. He had seen Lucy’s ghost, but had never really been in danger. Her messages had been warnings from lingering love. They didn’t think they were allowing Nancy to go to her potential death.

“You’re not alone,” he said sadly. 

Nancy thought maybe he felt he was alone. She couldn’t make the commitment to be his daughter under a death curse. It wouldn’t be a genuine promise. She had to leave him with something positive. If Ryan was trying to be a better man for her to see it, that was worth encouraging.

“I don’t think any of us are alone. Hey, I helped you out even before we knew we were - I’m sure I’ll get my nose in your family business again,” she said lightly. “It’s a long, weird story that doesn’t have an ending yet. I need to see it through before I can try to explain.”

Carson broke the strained silence of their truce. He pursed his lips and nodded philosophically. “As long as you know you can call, both or either of us. Good luck with your ritual.”

“Bye.”

It was all she could do for a farewell. Ryan stood awkwardly until they had a half minute between Carson’s leaving. 

“Be careful,” he said, getting very close to a tone of fatherly concern. “I’ll be looking for a text.”

“I know.”

Nancy let them both leave, sure her father was putting a too-large tip at the table and Ryan was doubling it to keep up in the two dads contest only he was scoring. She rubbed her cold hands and pulled out her phone, tapping a quick message to two recipients on a time delay. 

‘Home safe, went okay. Thanks for checking in. Goodnight.’

She just had to make it true.


End file.
